We run practical training for landless women so that they can earn from a skill of their own. The programme centres on cottage-industry work — trades that can be carried on from home or from a shared space nearby, with modest tools and materials found close at hand.
Training runs in small groups close to where women live, so that attending does not cost a day's earnings or leave children unattended. Sessions are hands-on, and participants choose their trade with us according to what sells in their own area: tailoring and embroidery, handloom and handicraft work, products made from jute, cane and bamboo, or food processing and preservation. We also cover what turns a skill into a livelihood — costing, pricing, setting a little aside as savings, and finding buyers.
Landlessness in Bangladesh is not only a question of income. Families lose ground to river erosion and to the rising price of what remains, and women in those households are left without the land, the collateral or the farm work that others fall back on. We keep the environment in view as well, favouring jute, cloth, cane and bamboo over plastic, so that a new source of income does not become a new source of waste.
The programme is open to landless women across the country, and taking part does not depend on formal schooling or earlier experience. We give particular attention to women who are the only earners in their households. Women who wish to join, or neighbours willing to help bring a group together, are welcome to contact us.